Southampton’s recent struggles under Russell Martin after returning to the Premier League have sparked a debate on how promoted teams should approach their tactical setup after gaining promotion to the the English top tier.
The Saints are winless in the Premier League this season after 8 games and currently sit in 19th place in the league table with a -12 goal difference. They have been defensively abysmal, failing to keep a clean sheet in the Premier League this season, and have lost 7 games with a single point earned in a 1-1 home draw against fellow promoted team Ipswich.
Russell Martin tactics under scrutiny
Conversations surrounding Russell Martin’s job safety are centred on his stubbornness to stick to his possession-based style despite Southampton’s glaring lack of results and frailties playing out from the back. Southampton are currently ranked 6th in the Premier League for ball possession (54.9%)) more than Manchester United and Arsenal.
They also rank 4th in the Premier League for total passes with 4220 passes this season and an accurate pass success rate of 462 per game. These stats highlight how well coached a possession-based team Southampton are under Russell Martin, who also dominated possession in the Championship last season (2023/2024), ranking first with 66% ball possession and an accurate pass rate of 598 per game. To Russell Martin’s credit, it’s commendably brave how Southampton setup to build out from the back given the quality in the Premier League.
Southampton have found out the hard way though: that it is points that win games, not possession stats, and possession means nothing if you leak goals at the rate which Southampton do. They have conceded a total of 18 goals from 17.3 xG, showing how much quality space they allow opposition teams.
Out of possession, Southampton have a lot of work to do as their passive press usually becomes easy to play through, ranking bottom of the league for possession won in the opposition final third (123), and also facing an average of 17.5 shots per game. At the attacking end of the pitch, Southampton have found it hard to turn possession into quality chances, finding it difficult to progress beyond their midfield third.
With just 195 touches in the opposition box and 3.8 shots on target per game, they’ve struggled to generate space for quality shots. They have also been wasteful in front of goal, with 6 goals scored from 10.5 xG, including a crucial penalty miss from Cameron Archer against Manchester United.
What now?
It’s difficult to make a case for Russell Martin’s Southampton, as results have shown how difficult it is to grind results playing an expansive brand of possession football.
The ideas might be right, but the execution has been poor, as they’ve been occasionally caught out in dangerous positions while playing from the back. The more pragmatic decision could be reverting to a pragmatic counterattack game by denying elite opposition teams spaces to exploit while looking to break on the counter with the pace they possess in attack.
With a trip to the home of Premier League Champions during the weekend, this could be the right time to be more pragmatic in possession against a City side very vulnerable in transition, as an open approach could result in an embarrassing scoreline with the quality City possess in Haaland, Savio, and Doku.
